Currently he's probably the best U-21 midfield talent in world football. I'm absolutely stunned to see an already fairly refined midfield talent at freaking 18. What an impact he's causing already to the Portugal NT. Reminds me of how good Cristiano looked at a very young age. And imo he couldnt go to a better club than Bayern to develop himself further. I look at him and Andre Gomes who is like some 4 yrs older(also rated) and i notice the vast gulf in talent between the two.

What do you think? Is he Portugal's next superstar in the making? Could he be their next Kommander (in midfield) ?

As in, could he establish himself and follow the path of other Portuguese greats such as Eusebio, Figo, Cristiano. The Kommander thing was more of a pun. There are good chances he becomes a huge marketing tool like Cristiano.

Looks a bit raw still but I love how engaged he is. He plays with high energy, moves into areas with great intelligence. Far from the finished product but he looks like he could become one of those complete midfielders that teams other than Juventus dream of having (-H-)

He can become next James Rodriguez. To become ronaldo he needs to be handsome

Pogba? Neymar?

What im saying is he could become hugely marketable purely because of his playing style, his Davids-esque hairstyle etc.

Like how people associate Cristiano with Portugal NT now, they could probably do the same with Sanches in some 6-7 yrs perhaps.

Neymar is a big player and pure talent he has no chance to be Neymar. Training hard will not help. He can become CR with hard training but as i said needs to be handsome too to get likes and fansPogba is the only real variant. Davids was great but he was not as popular and marketable like CR. Davids Yes, CR No

Really, the OP said nothing about him already being a goat, just that he is one of the best if not the best young midfielders in the world. And the way he owned rakitic and modric, two world class midfielders should suggest that he isn't far from the truth.

Mole, at 18, he already looks like a quality CM who's been playing elite football for yrs. Thats my point. Pogba also looked pretty sensational at a young age, look at him now. Sanches got subbed in for Gomes dint he(another highly rated CM from Portugal) . You could already see the vast gap in quality between the two and Gomes is like 4-5 yrs older playing regularly for yrs while Sanches just recently burst on to the scene.Can't see what's so knee-jerk about this thread. Eventually he'll become a star imo

He is impressing me in the Euros. His attacking movement is superb, as is his dribbling and close control. He needs to work on his decision making though, understandable that its not so good since he is just 18.

@FennecFox7 wrote:Really, the OP said nothing about him already being a goat, just that he is one of the best if not the best young midfielders in the world. And the way he owned rakitic and modric, two world class midfielders should suggest that he isn't far from the truth.

Anyone else thinks he looks like Waka flocka?

You mean like how Wilshere did with prime Xavi and Iniesta lol? Yes he looked great but he came off the bench for one game against great players and did so for this game.

It's what on about with OTT reactions.

@S wrote:Mole, at 18, he already looks like a quality CM who's been playing elite football for yrs. Thats my point. Pogba also looked pretty sensational at a young age, look at him now. Sanches got subbed in for Gomes dint he(another highly rated CM from Portugal) . You could already see the vast gap in quality between the two and Gomes is like 4-5 yrs older playing regularly for yrs while Sanches just recently burst on to the scene.Can't see what's so knee-jerk about this thread. Eventually he'll become a star imo

It's knee jerk because he doesn't even start for Portugal and it's based on a couple of sub appearances and for the reasons i started above. Not to mention he's nowhere near a refined midfielder lol, he's dribbling and close control is class and holds off his defender very well but off the ball he doesn't look great and passing leaves A LOT to be desired and general decision making.

All of which is understandable considering his age and general rawness, but you are acting like he's the finished article already based on a couple of sub appearances. People did this with Wilshere when he was 18 and dominating Xavi and Iniesta because he had great close control and dribbling and nobody cared to mention the rest of his game.

I understand it's exciting to see a young talent with this amount of skill but we need to cool our jets, to be clear i thought he looked great and i was really impressed with him but a lot of this stuff is far too early.

Also that's what is what knee jerk about this thread lol, he's not a star yet and you are acting like he already is although i agree he most likely will become one if he learns and doesn't refuse to improve his game.

He's looked impressive this whole tournament every time since he's come on not just yesterday's game. Did you watch the Hungary game? I think Portugal's coach prefers him to use him as a sub because he adds the energy and pace against tired legs and the strategy is working very well so far.

@S wrote:He's looked impressive this whole tournament every time since he's come on not just yesterday's game. Did you watch the Hungary game? I think Portugal's coach prefers him to use him as a sub because he adds the energy and pace against tired legs and the strategy is working very well so far.

I meant as in against great players, obviously Hungary doesn't have any

I agree the strategy is working but at the same time it's still far too early IMO, not to mention Ancelotti will never play him anyway

Refined is probably not the right word to use here but what i meant to say is for an 18 yr old ,he plays like he's 22-23 or something. You would barely see anyone this good in his age group. Im not really surprised now why Bayern decided to invest heavily on him.

Sanches looks like an immense talent, but to me he still looks awfully raw.

When I've seen him (and I grant that's only been in his limited appearances for Portugal), he seems to have boundless energy and incredible physical ability. His other attributes seem a bit unrefined. At the moment, he seems to rely heavily on his pace and power, which he has in abundance. However, should he develop his tactical awareness (both offensively and defensively), he'll be a force to be reckoned with.

To be honest, he reminds me a bit of Romelu Lukaku when he first moved to Chelsea: immense physical talent, but still slightly unrefined. Hopefully, Bayern can pull off that elusive balance between managing expectation and offering enough chances to develop the player. Chelsea failed him, throwing him into the spotlight almost immediately. Hopefully, Bayern don't make the same mistake.

_________________“He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts . . . for support rather than illumination.”–Andrew Lang

^^ This basically. The kid is a beast with full of energy. Pogba like in some way. Has the same kind of air about him and the same kind of swagger in his play which is really good to see. I have watched him last season for Benfica especially in their CL matches. And he wasnt that good actually. He was basically running all around the pitch like a headless chicken mosstly whenever he didnt have the ball.Need to iron out some of his technical flaws. Not denying he is immensely talented tho. Sky's the ceiling.

@Glory wrote:^^ This basically. The kid is a beast with full of energy. Pogba like in some way. Has the same kind of air about him and the same kind of swagger in his play which is really good to see. I have watched him last season for Benfica especially in their CL matches. And he wasnt that good actually. He was basically running all around the pitch like a headless chicken mosstly whenever he didnt have the ball.Need to iron out some of his technical flaws. Not denying he is immensely talented tho. Sky's the ceiling.

This is just arguing perceptions at this point, but I don't actually see Pogba in him. Pogba always seemed to have a bit of finesse to his game (not unlike Cantona's fluid agression).

No, Sanches for me embodies a little more unrestrained physicality. I think a more apt comparison may be Pogba's erstwhile teammate, Arturo Vidal. Whether or not he develops in the same vein as Vidal depends entirely on his coaching, as this point. However, if I were to make a comparison, Vidal might be closer.

_________________“He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts . . . for support rather than illumination.”–Andrew Lang

Yea I was mainly referring to the way they conducts on the pitch. Both of them have the same sort of authority and confidence in their game. The kind of authority that will make them look like seasoned pros on the footballing field in spite of their tender ages. On the actual footballing style, yea I agree. They aint at all similar. Pogba technically is one of the best in the world right now. Whereas when it comes to this kid, its not his strongest suit for sure. In playing style I think he is more of a Kante (the Leicester one, not the France Kante who is basically a pure DM.) Vidal too, I agree.

He's very talented for his age, but has still leaps and bounds of work to do if he's to become a solid midfielder, more so in Bayern.

I do not have worries, Ancelotti or no, because if he's not going to get any game time, and they see potential, he will most likely get a loan spell to a fellow Buli club in order to acclimatize himself with the language and the football. It's not Madrid where you have top class youngsters just wasting away on the bench.